Miles of footprints on the journey to a healthy life

Category Archives: Friends

The cool (ha) thing about below freezing temps and being inside a polar vortex is the opportunity to stay in, cook something delish and snuggle. And I’ve DONE all of those things in the past few days.
We kicked this week off with Sunday company and soup.

Soup for three

I stumbled across this fabulous recipe a few months back. I love everything about Jonathan’s blog. He makes delicious recipes seem conquerable. He is totally an inspiration to this budding culinary gal.
Anywho, I made this soup, which I consider to be a way more delicious take on Olive Garden’s Zuppa Toscana, a month or so ago and my husband flipped for it.
So, when my childhood friend of more than 23 years (how am I old enough to say that) came for a post holiday visit, we all decided to stay in and skip the whole going out and spending dollar bills on pricey eats. I figured that was a perfect opportunity to throw something together. It was a great way to kick off my year of DOING. Part of that whole New Year concept will include cooking more for our family and friends. I love sharing our home and dishes with them.
Back to soup…this recipe is ridiculously easy to put together.

Yum

Photogenic soup

And sooo delicious. I tried Olive Garden’s version recently and I pushed it away. I win at Zuppa Toscana.
But to be fair OG does do one soup well enough that I’ll let them make it from now on. I tried my hand at my addiction – the Chicken and Gnocchi soup.

Simmer Simmer

Though it looks delicious, it was no Olive Garden version. They win at Chicken & Gnocchi. My college try made me realize they must put a bucket of salt into their batches. I used more salt than I would ever use in a recipe and it still needed some. If I try again, I’ll salt it up and add even more stock.
The best part about that recipe was being able to share it with friends. Four bowls this time.

Soup Soiree

Clearly, I like taking pictures of empty bowls with spoons.
Everyone filled their bellies, and left their bowls just as empty as they started, so maybe I kind of win at Chicken & Gnocchi 😉